Is Seminar Marketing Overdone?
By:  Kathran J. Martin, CFP

Don’t believe the scuttle butt. Presented well and to the right audience with the right follow-up systems; seminars are still an extremely effective marketing tool for financial advisors. The problem is that many advisors aren’t paying attention to these details.  Are there advisors using seminars effectively? Yes! In fact, some of the very top advisor coaches are convincing their clients to focus more on seminar marketing in these turbulent times and these advisors are reaping large harvests from their efforts.  

Why use seminar marketing?

Begin with the end in mind, says Steven Covey. In this case, we want to collect a group of highly-motivated, high-value clients from our seminar marketing. We want the return on investment (ROI) to be extremely attractive. We want these to run like clock work. We want our seminars to consume the least amount of our time. Does that about sum it up?

The primary objective of seminars is to generate a lot of new business, not to get compliments on your teaching ability, humorous stories or the quality of the meal you serve.

There are several links in this chain: we need to make sure that the audience has the potential to meet our expectation, we need to close for appointments with 50% of the attendees and we need to convert those appointments into business.  

How do you get a target audience?

What is your target audience? A target audience is one where the audience’s needs and concerns are aligned with your value proposition and service offering. For example, if your ideal client is the active, affluent senior living in Temecula California then don’t expect good results from a seminar that appeals to Baby Boomers with education funding concerns.

In the seminar business there are two ways to qualify attendees: first is with the right mailing list and the second is through the invitation’s copy. The right list means using a vendor with a large enough database of households and data points about those households to match your target audience. If your target audience is affluent seniors, then you really don’t have a targeted audience. That’s simply too broad. But if your target audience were retired boat owners in the state of Texas who were married, owned their homes and were over age 62, then you would be getting closer to a target audience. 

How do you qualify with copy?

You want certain characteristics in your audience. For instance, you might be focusing on the IRA rollover market among retirees who own their homes in central Arkansas. When you write the copy you insert phrases like, “You must attend this seminar if you are planning an IRA rollover in the next 6 months.” Or, “If your IRA is worth less than $250,000 then you might not benefit from this workshop.”

How do you get qualified, targeted leads to your seminars?

Once you have aligned your value proposition with your target market you are well on your way.  The next task is to rent space in the mind of your target audience through drip marketing.   

Drip marketing is extremely effective because you send promotional pieces with clear, constant and consistent marketing messages to a targeted group over a period of time.  The group begins to identify you through the pieces and you become like a jingle they just can’t get out of their heads.  Once you’re on their mind and they make contact, you simply have to follow through with your value proposition. 

As you send out your promotional pieces consider putting a schedule of your seminars in them, so there’s plenty of opportunities for people to make it to your presentation.  The more opportunities you give them to hear what you have to offer, the better your chances of getting them to your presentation.  

You can market your seminars through the promotional pieces to catch your target group’s attention and drive them to your event.   However, the copy in these pieces must not only have the aforementioned qualifiers, but must be fresh, engaging and professional.  You must communicate quickly and often how you can earn or save them more money.

If you are looking for more training and education on seminar marketing then go to BuildYourMarket.com and look under the market tab.  You will find highly-detailed, easy-to-use marketing strategies to build out your brand, capture market share and reach financial independence.

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